Praise – No Matter What

 

Psalm 108:1–2

O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory; awake psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.     KJV

There’s a man who’s made up his mind that no matter what happens he’s going to praise the Lord. It’s important to understand that praise should not arise merely from our feelings or our circumstances. It should arise out of our will; it should arise out of a deep will-seated decision. My heart is fixed: no matter what happens I’m going to praise God.

And then the psalmist says, “I will give praise even with my glory.” What does he mean when he says, my glory? Fortunately, the Bible does not leave us to wonder, because on the Day of Pentecost in his sermon in Jerusalem, the apostle Peter quoted Psalm 16:9 where David used the same phrase, “My glory rejoiceth” (KJV). In Acts 2:26 Peter quotes this verse, but changes one significant word. He changed glory to tongue, quoting it this way: ”My tongue was glad” (KJV).

So that tells us a wonderful secret, our tongue is our glory. Why is that? Or why did God give us a tongue? Do you know the real reason why God gave us a tongue – the primary reason why you and I have a tongue? It’s to praise God with, and only when we use our tongue for God’s glory are we using it aright. And our tongue is our glory because with it, above all other members of our body, we can glorify God and use it for the purpose for which we were created.